


Anything But

by houliheller



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Growing Up, Secret Crush, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:48:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28896156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houliheller/pseuds/houliheller
Summary: Maybe it was only inevitable that it would come to this - maybe she had spent too much time nurturing their friendship for her to want it as anything but.
Relationships: Pieck Finger/Porco Galliard
Comments: 14
Kudos: 92





	1. Chapter 1

“I killed a grasshopper yesterday.”

“A grasshopper?” Porco seems unimpressed. “That’s nothing - I killed a spider.”

Pieck isn’t impressed either; she wishes Porco wouldn’t kill insects.

Although a _spider_ was an arachnid, not an insect - not to say that excused him, though.

The sun is bright and hot nearly every day of summer in Marley. The rest of the warrior unit seem to enjoy it, but Pieck doesn't like the way it burns the pale skin of her wrists, and with her hair as black as it is it turns hot to the touch against her head and makes her sweat.

But Porco goes out here everyday, sometimes without even telling her, and Pieck doesn't want to sit inside by herself during their breaks, so she ends up out here everyday too.

“A grasshopper is harder to catch, though.” And she wishes Annie wouldn’t drag him into killing them. “They jump.”

“But spiders are scarier.”

“You’re scared of spiders?”

Porco hesitates, and the grip he holds about his shins tightens. “No…”

“Wimp.”

Pieck doesn’t know why Porco bothers with Annie if she talks down to him.

“I’m scared of spiders, too.”

Annie’s glare switches to Pieck, who lies on her front, next to Porco, with gatherings of grass in her hands. “No, you’re not.”

“I am.”

“No.” Annie’s eyes turn harsher. “You’re just saying that.”

The grass in her hand crumples under a tightening grip, and Pieck props herself up on her forearms as she counters again. “I’m not.”

Annie leers, and her bottom lip juts out in a show of habit as she thinks.

But she only shrugs, and cedes their little duel as she turns back to Porco. “Do you want to go to the drains?” Porco pays her no attention - Pieck wishes he would do so more often - so Annie kicks at his foot to force it from him. “There are frogs there.”

He looks up now. “Not really.”

“Why?”

Porco shrugs, and he glances at Pieck and then towards the horizon. “I don’t know.”

“Fine.” Annie doesn’t sigh or huff - or show any glimpse of disappointment, really, and turns about with her hands tucked to the pockets of her shorts.

She doesn’t even say farewell.

Pieck only watches her go for a moment, and then settles back to the grass on her front as her forearms redden under her weight, and she rips up more blades of grass as she looks to Porco with a soft smile. “Did you really kill a spider?”

But he doesn’t look to her to see it. “No.” He shrugs. “I made it up.”

The smile grows, and Pieck blows away a loose bang that hangs over an eye. “Good. My father says you shouldn’t hurt things that can’t defend themselves.” Pieck knew that wouldn’t last, but she tried to uphold it as best she could. Porco remains sat still, staring at the grass in between his knees and unresponsive to her anecdotes. “Why do you talk to Annie?”

He shrugs again. “She talks to me.”

“But I talk to you.”

Porco looks up and to her now, and his eyes are narrowed with curiosity. “What?”

Pieck doesn’t know what she’s saying either, but her cheeks have turned warm and she can’t think of how to explain herself. She shrugs, and looks back to the grass beneath her. “I don’t know.”

He doesn’t need much convincing. “Okay.” Porco keeps his gaze. “Grass can’t defend itself, either.”

“But grass grows back.” Pieck is quick with her answers. “And I’m not uprooting it - I’m taking the top bits off.” 

Porco decides that Pieck knows better. “Okay.” There’s a short pause. “What are you doing with it?”

Pieck doesn’t know how to answer that one, so she takes a handful of it and piles it atop her head in jest to fill the gap and gives him a smile. Porco smiles back at her display, and a chuckle escapes him when some of it slips down and falls across her face.

“Can I join in?”

Pieck blows away a few blades that cling to her face. “Yup.”

Porco grins, leaping from his sit eagerly. He lands on his front, close to Pieck, and starts to salvage through the same patch of grass as her. “I’m gonna throw some at Reiner.”

Pieck frowns at him as her free hand rustles through her hair, ridding herself of any remaining blades. “Pock…”

“It’s fine.” He grabs a handful and it crackles as he rips it up. “He can defend himself.”

* * *

Porco normally smiles back when she smiles at him. Whether it’s just in politeness, or because he shares her sentiment, she doesn’t yet know, but as far she remembers he’s always done it, and it’s almost become a part of her day.

But he doesn’t smile back this time, when Pieck finds him on a bench around the back of the barracks with his legs swinging to and fro, and the air between them when she comes to sit down next to him is uncomfortable and it’s making it hard to think of how she can cheer him up.

She can tell he needs cheering up, because he’s staring silently at the gravel beneath their feet and his lips are pouted out slightly like he’s close to crying. Not that she was going to say that - she knew boys didn’t like being told they looked like they were going to cry, and Pieck certainly wasn’t going to be the one to say that to him because then she would just make him angry.

But besides her worries, and more to the present rather than premonitions, she does notice that he’s getting taller, tall enough now for the toes of his shoes to scrape against the gravel as he swung them, and tall enough for his shorts to no longer be past his knees.

She doesn’t want him to get too tall, though, because then he might not see her if she’s too low down if _she_ doesn’t grow.

She doesn’t want him to ignore her.

But that’s how it feels right now, and all she’s given him so far, with little to show for it, is a greeting. She knew Porco wouldn’t be happy, not after the inheritances had been declared and he was on none of them.

And Reiner was.

And although Pieck had thought that, maybe, Reiner deserved his selection as the armoured for his commitment and partly for everything Porco put him through, and maybe that Porco deserved to be excluded after everything he put Reiner through, she’s never going to say that because _she_ doesn’t want to be the one to upset Porco more.

And she doesn’t want Porco to not like her anymore, because they were friends and he made her smile. 

And normally, he smiled back.

“I got the cart.”

She can’t think of much else to say, she thought giving him some inoffensive news like her own accomplishments would be the best, but Porco still doesn’t say anything and now she’s worrying if she was just being selfish.

And the discomfort in her chest doubles, and now she’s swinging her legs back and forth slightly because she’s growing nervous.

“Bertolt got the colossal.” She giggles a little before she speaks again; Bertolt had grown too and was nearly a head above everyone now. “I think it’s funny, because of how tall he is.”

And then Porco hums. Not like he thinks it funny, or that he’s thinking about it, but like he’s not interested. It’s short and low, and Pieck feels like an idiot for laughing herself.

Her nerves quiver, and she tugs at a short length of her hair, wrapping it tightly around a finger, and then letting it curl loose when she releases it. “Do you want to get lunch?”

The rate of Porco’s legs slows, but when Pieck thinks she’s finally broken through and has said something to cheer him up - he liked his food - he looks into the distance and shakes his head.

“I’m not hungry.”

Her chest still hurts. “They’re making burgers.”

Porco shakes his head again, and he looks back to the gravel beneath the two of them. “You can go if you’re hungry.”

“I’m not.” She would only be so if he was too. “I was just wondering.”

“Why would you ask, then?”

His follow-up is quick, confrontational, and now she worries he’s angry with her. “Huh?”

It’s only now that he looks at her. “If you’re not hungry then why would you ask to go to lunch?”

“Um.” She has to shrug, because maybe she _was_ hungry, but she didn’t want to leave Porco here whilst she indulged happily in a burger. “I was just thinking about you.”

The words tumble from her honestly, and though Porco falters for a moment he still looks back to the horizon disgruntledly, and though the discomfort in Pieck’s chest subsides, it rushes up her neck instead and blooms across her face as her cheeks flush warmer under the cold, spring sun. 

But her confession seems to distract him from his melancholy, at least for now, and he looks back to her whilst she looks down to hide her face and fiddles between her fingers.

“Do you want to go play in the field?”

And though her cheeks are yet to cool paler, she has to look back at him and she meets his hopeful look with a smile. “Okay.”

And he smiles back. “I’ll beat you there.”

“No, you won’t-”

And Porco is up from the bench and hurrying along the path before she can finish her objection, and then she’s chasing after him.

* * *

Three minutes, now.

It had been a week when Zeke had told her of high command’s new plans, and then it had been a day and a bit when she had woken up yesterday morning and vowed to stick around with Porco as much as she could, and then it had been a matter of hours when she had woken up _this_ morning and laboured through getting organised.

And then it was thirty minutes when Porco had walked with her to the train station.

And then ten when the train had pulled in and she had distracted herself with whatever they could talk about.

And now, when the operator had shouted his normal routine and cargo started to be loaded and their cohort of soldiers had boarded, headed for the port, it was three.

“You go away all the time, Pieck.” Porco shrugs, and the sleeves of his uniform shirt brush against the torso with his hands in his pockets. “It won’t be any different.”

He’s too tall for her now, though Pieck will admit he hasn’t quite grown into his new height because his shoulders aren’t quite broad enough to match it and his arms hang from him awkwardly, but he’s nearly a head taller than her and she has to crane her neck up every time she wants to look at him.

And her neck had started to ache like hell, recently.

She’s hardly grown herself, the last time she remembers doing so was when she realised she was finally tall enough to see the entirety of her face in the high-wall mirror in the brass’ office.

That was when she was fourteen. She was seventeen now.

Time seemed to fly.

“I know.” Pieck fiddles with the hem of her skirt, and the train whistles again as a pair of station-hands march past the two of them. “I just wasn’t expecting this one.” It had only been a matter of months since her last venture under Marley’s banner, and now she was headed for Paradis as well.

Porco huffs a laugh. “Someone’s got to pick up after Reiner.” He shrugs. “I think it’s no surprise they kept you and the Warchief back just in case.”

Pieck smiles slightly, and when the train whistles again and one of the cargo doors of the furthest back car slides shut, she thinks it’s only two minutes to go. “Is that a compliment to me?” Her eyes lid thoughtfully. “Or an insult to Reiner?”

Porco doesn’t respond in the interval that Pieck expects him to, and instead he reaches forward and brushes a heavy length of hair out of her eye before he does. “Bit of both.”

His nail tickles against her brow, and she has to swallow the pressure in her chest before she speaks again. “You should try just complimenting me.”

“Well, you know, there's a balance to everything.” He smirks. “I give and I take.”

And a laugh whistles through her breath, but she doesn’t know whether it’s the joke or the smirk that does it.

But before she can speak again, Porco isn’t looking at her anymore and instead over her shoulder, close over her shoulder, and then there’s a familiar rhythm of combat boots from behind.

“Pieck!” And then there’s a rest of a hand on her shoulder, and she glances surprisedly to her right to find Zeke dressed ready, combats and jacket and all, with his signature glasses perched atop his nose and a bag over his shoulder. “We’ve got a minute, say your goodbyes.” And then the hand leaves her with a gentle squeeze, and he pushes his glasses close against the bridge of his nose. “I’m leaving the barracks in your hands, Porco, alright?”

Porco nods at him, disciplined and firmly. “Yeah.”

Zeke smirks at the yet awaiting warrior's uniform orderliness, pulling the bag over his shoulder further up, and postures himself to leave the two of them and board the train. “Besides the cleaning staff, of course - and don’t pull any mistakes while we’re gone.” Porco narrows his eyes, and then Zeke strides away from Pieck and he smacks Porco on the back as he passes him. “Just make sure you don’t get any girls pregnant.”

And Porco recoils embarrassedly under the force of both Zeke’s quip and his hand, and the thought doesn’t settle well with Pieck either.

She has to break the silence as Porco glares at the floor beside her. “He was just joking.”

“I know.” He nods uneasily, and looks back to her. “I know.”

The train whistles again, and now all the doors to the cargo cars are closed and there’s little time left.

She’s been in this station plenty of times before, and Porco has stood there and she here and they’ve said their goodbyes and she’s walked away.

But Pieck doesn’t want to this time; it’s like she’s being torn away from something.

“You should go.”

But Porco’s indication is the final nail in the coffin, despite his warm smile alongside, and Pieck capitulates to herself with a nod and smiles back.

But she doesn’t want her farewell to be a matter of words, at least something in her doesn’t, and she wants to hug him like she had when she first left on the train with everyone but Porco.

And even though they're seventeen now, only twelve back then, Pieck thinks that shouldn't change anything.

She stumbles forward somewhat, whether through decision or by accident she doesn’t yet know, and lands against his chest. Although she half-wishes she hadn’t, because the hands about her side that itch to hold him don’t have the courage to do so, and it’s painfully awkward as she rests against him like a plank and doesn’t say anything.

But Porco has the courage himself, thankfully, and his arms come to wrap around her gently, and even though it’s a light touch and his hands are around her shoulders, it’s a touch enough and the uneasy palpitations to her chest settle.

And when the train whistles again, she pulls herself away from him with their short moment savoured, and cranes her neck up to smile at him and he smiles back.

And he rustles a hand through her hair in a final farewell. “Bye.”

And though she really wishes he hadn’t, she had only just managed to tame it with her comb an hour ago, it leaves her content enough now to take to the train door only a short reach away. “Bye.”

And as she leaves him for the train she watches him watch her go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the first chapter of this - any feedback is appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

The train home is a daze.

They sit opposite one another, in a booth reserved for the two of them _and_ Reiner - had he not relegated himself to the troop car. She hasn’t seen him in the normal for years, and in the moments where their conversation ceases, whether that be per Porco’s distraction or the weight of her fatigue, she finds herself staring; not coldly, nor solemnly, but as if her mind has lost the jurisdiction of its filter and her eyes simply choose to hover over him, and she notices every small mannerism and flicker of soul that he exhibits in the silence.

The door behind them seems to shake with the noise from inside, and Porco glares at it, grimly, by the corner of his eye. He’s not one for unsubstantiated frenzy, and then, when there’s a smash of something glass and a shout that is almost certainly Reiner, his face flinches irritably and he looks back to the passing mountains with a shake of his head.

Pieck smiles to herself; she wonders if he knows how amusing he is to watch, and whether he reacts like that, to himself, consciously or just by nature.

There’s another cheer from the car behind them, and then the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor and Reiner shouting _again_ , but before it catches Porco’s attention once more, Pieck twitches a leg forward and kicks gently at his foot beneath the table.

He looks to her instead, softly with a raised brow in question. She can’t think of what to say, so all she does is smile.

Porco chuckles, breath shaking with it. “You look knackered.”

She was, and the fogged gleam to her eyes and the bags underneath, that had taken her by surprise when she had glanced at her reflection in the window, are only the start of it. She shrugs, though it’s one of confirmation, and a sigh whistles from her as she rests further into the cushion of her seat.

“How’re your legs?”

Her crutch sits next to her, slid halfway underneath the table, and her legs ache juvenively from all the bipedal walking she's done in the past days. “Sore.”

Porco nods, and then he leans back and his head rests to the top of the cushion. “I can’t wait to be home - no more of those pig-sty field barracks.” He looks back to her. “And real food - market food.”

Pieck narrows her eyes amusedly at him. He liked his food. “I think you’re forgetting something.”

He narrows back. “Hm?”

“Your parents?”

His head falls backwards again. “That’s always a given, Pieck.”

There’s another period of silence, during which the troop car rattles some more and Porco takes a moment to rest himself. Her eyes hover again, and they trace along the shape of his throat and the muscle of his neck, which warp as he breathes.

“I’ll buy you a burger when we get back.”

Her eyes don’t cease their admirations, not until Porco looks back to her, and her chest swells at his words. “Really?"

She could go for a burger. Especially if it was from him. 

“Uh-huh.” He grunts. “Either that, or I’ll get Reiner to pay for it.”

“Pock."

Her eyes have to stop then because he swings his head down and looks back to her. “What?”

She smiles. “I think you have plenty of your own money.”

“Yeah, but…” His arms cross, and he leans his head back a final time knowing that Pieck’s objection is only a gentle one. “...he owes me.”

* * *

A few days into their return to Liberio, walking is still a slight awkward. She has to focus on the rhythm of one-foot-forward more than normal, sometimes having to consciously drag her legs along if she focuses too hard, and with her careful pace she’s further towards the back of the group.

There’s a festival, though, upon the eve of the Tybur ceremony, so Pieck can’t refuse - there’s culture and food awaiting her and it seems like a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

And when Porco had burst into her room, with Reiner in cautious tow behind, and announced to her the same things, she could hardly tell him no.

He strides adjacent to her for the moment, in mutual silence again - though there are seagulls and various chants through the air, and the rallied discussion between Udo and Zofia is enough noise. She thinks he does so because he knows walking without crutches isn’t so easy for her, but it’s more a hope and less a thought because soon enough he briskly strides ahead a few paces and leaves her side.

Not that there was much space to her mind to consider his decision, because when he darts ahead his hand brushes against hers and it staggers her focus so much that it nearly makes her trip up.

His hands plant suddenly to the shoulders of the other two cadets, the quieter ones that stride closer to Reiner at the front, and Falco jumps in surprise. 

“Are you two excited for the festival?”

Falco nods, and Gabi voices her excitement with a grin. “Yup - I’m gonna stuff myself!”

Porco smirks in return. “I’m sure Reiner’ll buy us all something nice, eh?” He shakes at them gently as he speaks, and Falco smiles, though it may be in politeness because he isn’t quite as enthusiastic as Gabi, who beams madly at the idea. 

“Really?” Enough to make her eyes brighten.

“Aye.” He looks to Reiner, who strides a few paces ahead with his hands in his pockets. “Right, Reiner?”

“I’ll buy the kids whatever they want.” Reiner glances over his shoulder. “You, Porco, can buy your own food.”

Pieck suspects he hadn’t relinquished his idea of getting Reiner to pay for his food.

Porco lets go of the two with an exaggerated huff, and his hands return to the pockets of his uniform. “No fair.”

Reiner huffs. “You’re twenty-one.”

“Doesn’t make me any less hungry.”

* * *

She has a slice of pizza in her hands. It’s smothered in cheese, and the tomato covering seems to steam subtly from its heat, and the single circle of meat that decorates hers has a pooling of oil in its centre that glistens under the sunlight.

It looks irresistible.

And when she takes her first bite, in unison with Porco, the cheese and the tomato and the oven baked base mix together perfectly in her mouth, and though Porco doesn’t, she takes another bite soon after and it’s hungrier than the last.

“Slow down a little.” Porco speaks through a hand and a laugh, and his small bite of pizza is swallowed easily.

Pieck chews furiously in response, her slice already whittled down to half, and when her cheeks bulge under just how much she’s bitten off, she realises Porco is right because her mouth is full and she’s having to gulp it down.

She covers her mouth with a hand, flashing him a concerned look, and for a few moments Porco is simply laughing and pointing at her while she wrestles through her ordeal.

“Is she alright?”

Reiner appears from behind them, wallet wilted away once more, and he glances over Porco’s shoulder worriedly.

Porco only waves him off, and speaks as Pieck swallows down the largest clump. “She’s fine.”

Reiner nods, and turns to cater to the four cadets that have their hands full with whatever they’ve indulged in, and as Pieck regathers herself to a point where she can somewhat speak again, Porco cuts her off with a hand.

“You’ve got something…”

It’s a slight stain of tomato sauce, Pieck can feel it, but instead of leaving her to resolve it he somehow decides wiping it off himself is the better choice, and when he does he does so tenderly and his thumb brushes against her lips.

And the same blush of shock that runs through her, the one that had nearly made her trip up earlier, makes her breath stunt awkwardly and a piece of pizza goes down the wrong way.

And now she’s choking.

“You alright?” Pieck flashes Porco a strained look at his words, but it’s cut short when she coughs again and tears prick at her eyes from the tickling in her chest.

She waves a hand at him - she’s not _choking_ -choking, only half-choking; like someone’s put a feather down her throat. 

Porco thins his lips as she coughs again, and then Reiner catches onto the commotion, looking over his shoulder while he keeps Gabi from biting off more than she can chew, and he turns about and strides over to them as Pieck continues to struggle and an embarrassed smile tears at her lips.

“Is she alright?” Reiner gestures at her, and he glares at Porco. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing!” He gestures at Pieck, who manages to forcefully cough herself back under control and waves a hand at the two of them. “Look, she’s fine-”

“I’m fine, Reiner.” Another, jerked cough follows her assurance. “Don’t worry-” And another.

The young man doesn’t seem so convinced for a moment, but when he finally is he huffs irritably and throws a smack at Porco’s arm. “Be more careful with your food. I don’t need one of you dropping dead before the ceremony.”

Porco scowls at him. “I wasn’t the one choking.”

“It’s ‘where one goes the other follows’ with you two.” Reiner frowns at Porco, who simmers down slightly. “I’m already paying for all your food - just make sure I don’t get indicted for your deaths.”

Porco nods, and he glances amusedly at Pieck as Reiner returns to the other four. “Don’t eat so fast.”

She wipes at an eye. “That wasn’t my problem.”

Porco doesn’t confess his blame, but he does give a peace offering. “You want one of my chocolates?”

All the coughing has turned her throat to sandpaper, and the chocolates are smooth and creamy. “Yes, please.”

* * *

“Your breath stinks.”

“What?” Porco checks it against a closed hand. “Can you smell it from down there?”

“Mhm.” She’s nestled into the slight curve of his waist and underneath the join of his armpit, and though one arm fiddles with a loose part of Porco’s uniform and the other snakes all the way to her stomach, they twitch to wrap around him.

He sighs gritted. The smell is certainly there as it lingers against his hand and it isn’t pleasant. “And yours doesn’t?”

“Nope.” If it did Pieck would already know given how closely she’s pressed to him. “Because I didn’t have onion on my burger.”

Digesting all the food she’s eaten means walking is now, absolutely, impossible. Fortunately, Porco seemingly has no gripes with her lying next to - _against_ \- him while he lounges on his bed - whether that’s a good or a bad sign she does not yet know - and recovers from his own gluttony, so she takes her fortunes.

Reiner’s wallet was limitless.

And with her reflection on the one that had brought the two of them to this, the door shakes as it’s opened from the other side and the footfalls of uniform boots follow in a turn of coincidence.

Porco glances up, his hair brushing against the pillow, but Pieck remains motionless and decides that anything but half-holding onto him and carefully breathing will bring her lunch back up.

The door clashes closed when Reiner swings it back, and then there’s a short moment more of silence and she thinks the two of them are glaring at one another.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” 

Porco only chuckles, but Pieck’s face burns against the cool fabric of his uniform and her stomach churns uncomfortably.

He was just joking.

There’s a few moments of nothing but booted footfalls again until the other bed creaks as Reiner sits to it. “I think I’m owed some thanks.”

Porco looks to his left laxly, watching Reiner wrestle with a boot for a moment. “For what?”

His response joins the grunt of relief when his boot slides loose from his foot. “Paying for all your food.”

Pieck chimes in to soothe her mind, speaking muffled and swallowing the unease in her throat alongside. “Thank you, Reiner.”

It’s better than anything Porco gives him. “You’re very welcome, Pieck.” He gives him nothing but a frown. “Porco?”

And Porco’s capitulation joins the second grunt of relief when Reiner’s other boot slides free. “Thanks.”

Reiner doesn’t explicitly respond, but Pieck thinks she hears him mutter a sarcastic return of ‘you’re welcome’. 

“How’s Gabi?”

“She’s fine.” The bed creaks again when Reiner falls back onto it with a fatigued huff. “Just had a little too much.”

Porco laughs loosely, but his body shakes with it, meaning she does too, and her stomach swirls again. “A little?”

“More than a little.” She had eaten the most out of any of them. “Too much ice cream - ‘should never have introduced her to the stuff.” The bed creaks again. “You didn’t choke on anything else, did you, Pieck?”

“Nope.”

Reiner chuckles gruffly, and then groans as he stretches for a moment. “Warriors shouldn’t be sharing a bed.”

Pieck sears again, but Porco responds half-absently. “This is the farthest either of us could walk.” He sighs contently. “We’re fine.”

He hums, and when the bed doesn’t creak again, Pieck thinks she can feel Reiner’s eyes burning into her. She turns her head about reluctantly, glancing through the dark mess of her fringe and half over her shoulder, and when she turns about enough she finds Reiner with his eyes narrowed curiously on her, head craned up from his flattened posture on the bed.

They exchange looks for a moment, his curious and hers an uneasy mix of nonchalance and anxiety, and then Pieck turns about under the pressure in her chest that joins the one in her stomach, and she hides herself back into Porco’s side.

Then the bed creaks, and Reiner lets out an exhausted breath.

Maybe if even Reiner had his curiosities, then she had nurtured this for too long; maybe she should say something.

Her stomach curdles unpleasantly again.

Maybe not right now.

Maybe after the ceremony.


End file.
